The prevalence of electronic devices and mobile applications allows people to engage with a variety of digital data and online services. As mobile applications become increasingly utilized by users in their daily activities, it is becoming beneficial to utilize location-based customization to personalize users' experiences. In particular, it is beneficial to monitor location-based information associated with outdoor regions as well as indoor regions that may provide useful information to a user, particularly when the user is utilizing a mobile application.
Several methodologies have been developed to determine the position of a mobile communications device. For example, the position of a device may be determined based on triangulation of nearby cell towers and based on properties of the connection the device has with each of these towers. However, such methods may yield inaccurate results under certain circumstances such as, for example, when there is insufficient cell tower density to provide precise resolution (e.g., meter-level resolution) of the device's position. Wi-Fi triangulation may also be utilized to determine the position of a mobile communications device. This approach is analogous to cell tower triangulation, but uses Wi-Fi hot spots near the device to determine its position. However, the applicability of this technique may be limited when, for example, the set of known Wi-Fi hot spots in a region is not sufficiently large. The Global Positioning System (GPS) may also be used to determine the position of a mobile communications device. GPS involves a constellation of satellites that broadcast data, allowing the device to determine its location using a triangulation calculation. However, GPS methodologies may have certain drawbacks. For example, GPS signals may not be sufficiently strong in certain locations. Furthermore, receiving and processing GPS position updates on an ongoing basis is typically battery intensive for mobile communications devices. Accordingly, mobile devices may process position data from different types of location providers.